Rail joint



J. A. TWEIT.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3!, 1921.

Patented; Aug. 22, 1922'.

vvragrok u/aAn Tye/I 57/77)" 197 TOP/X57 JOHN A. TWEIT, 01L APPLETON, MINNESOTA.

RAIL JOINT.

.Ipcci'fi cation of: Letter" Patented Aug,

Application filed. January 31, 1921. Serial No. ll,247.

To all tr/a om may oonccm s do it lcno vn that 1, JOHN A. 'lwnir, acitizen. .ol' the United States, residing at .iilppleton, in the county of Swift and State of Minnesota, have invented rertain new and useful l n'iprovements in Bail Joints; and i do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such will enable others skilled in the art to which it apgcrtains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a rail joint particularly designed to be applied to rails used is is well known it is the common practice term the rail joints of the railroad rails by means oi? plates which. are bolted to the sides of the rail. ends. This method places a great strain upon the bolts passing'throngh the plates in the rails as the ends oi the rails are bent down as the wheels of the train trucks pass thereover,

It is an object of this invention to provide a rail joint in which the rail ends are supported against this downward movement and the load carrying stress applied to the rails is transmitted to the cross ties.

It is a further object to provide arail joint-which can be quickly and readily applied to a broken rail so that the same can be quickly repaired without waiting for the placement ofa new rail, thus resulting in little stoppage of traffic.

These and'cther oh'ects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description made in connection with in railway service.

the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views and in which- Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of two rails joined by a novel rail joint;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, also showing the side of the jointin perspective; and

J1 ig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, an ordinary type of railroad rail is shown as 1 and the end of a similar rail 2 is shown in abutting relation thereto. The rail joint of this invention comprises a member 3 which extends along one side of the rail and has a plate portion 4 upon which the rail rests, which portion extends under and beyond the lower flanges oi the rail. The plate 3 is also proand the upstanding portion 5.

vided. with an upstanding portion 5 which is adapted to extend along the side of the rail and to Contact therewithbelow the head or tread portion of the rail and also at the top of the lower or attaching flange of the rail. The bottom p: rt of the portion 5 thus forms with the plate portion t a recess into which the bottom flange ot the rail fits, the sides of the recess being disposed at an angle approximately the same as that of the sides of the rail flange. The plate portion 4: extends beyond the side edge oi the upstanding portion 5 to form spaced flanges 6 which are adapted to be disposed over the cross tie members 7. These flanges 6 are provided with spaced holes for receiving the holding spikes 9 these holes passing through the member 3 between the edges of the flange 6 As clearly shown in Fig 3, the outer side portion of the member 3 is formed on an incline or bevel and a slight horizontal ledge is formed adjacent the verticalside of the portion 5.

The heads of the spikes 9 are adapted to contact-either with the bevel portion or with the said ledge.

The rail joint also comprises a member 10 designed to extend along the side of the rail opposite to that supported bythe member 3, and this member 10 is formed with an upstanding portion 11' which is arranged to Contact under the head or tread portion of the rail and with the top of the bottom or attaching flange olithe rail. The member it) is provided with a lipor flange l2 eX- tending downwardly along the side of the rail adjacent to the plate l of member 3. The portion 12 is also formed with a bevel or'incline on its outer surface and also provided with a short horizontal portion -torming-a ledge adjacent the vertical outer surfl lICG of portion 11, and the portion 12 is also formed with slots 18 adapted to receive the attaching spikes 9, which spikes also pass throiilgh openings i l formed in the end of plate 4: and with which the slots 13 are arranged to register. The edges of the spikes 9 are adapted to engage with the horizontal ledge described or with the beveled portion in the same manner as the spikes engage the similar portions or" member 3.

From the above description it is thought the structure and use of the rail joint will be readily understood. The part 3 is first placed in position and moved so that the upstanding portion 5 comes into firm contact with the upper and lower portions of the rail. The lower flange of the rail will beheld firmly in position in the angle or recess of the member 3, there being slight clearance between the side edge of the rail and the inner end of this recess, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The member 10 will then be pressed. against the rail and brought into firm contact with the top of the rail flange and the lower part of the rail head. The rail will then be tightly held or clamped between the members 3 and 10 and thesemembers can then be firmly secured in position by the securing bolts 15. The members3 and 10 will then besecured to the tie by; driving of the attaching spikes 9. It

will. be observed that the downward stress on the rail joint caused by the wheels passing thereover, will be supported by the plate l onthe member 3 and the ends of the rails will be prevented from moving downwardly and thus placing a great stress on the bolts passing therethrough. When the rail joints are secured only by side plates, a

great many securing bolts are broken, re-

sulting in a large loss of material and many damagedrails and accidents. This loss and damage, will. be prevented by applicants device. Y l

j The noise occurring when the track wheels run over a rail joint is alsocaused largely bythe flexing of the rail ends. Such flexing will be prevented by the use of applicants device and practically all of the-noise of the wheels running over the rail joint will be eliminated. Another feature of utility of applicants novel rail joint is in its use as a repair joint. If the rail is broken, the member 3 can be applied to the broken ends in the same manner as it is applied to the usual ends of the rail, as shown in Figs. 1 and2. The member 10 will also be placed in position and the two members securely spikedto the cross ties. This will support the ends of the broken rail sufficiently well to allow considerable trafiic to pass there- 1 over and until such time as a new .rail can be conveniently brought andplaced in position. With this use of the device, it will be unnecessary to hold up the traflic on account of a broken rail until the new rail can be placed in position.

The parts of applicants device are quite simple and require very little finishing or machine work. The members 8 can be made either by being rolled into shape or they can be made as steel castings. It will, of

course, be understood that various changes 'canbe made in the form, proportion and details of the device without departing from the scope of 'applicantsa invention, which,

intermediate longitudinally extending horizontal ledge, said member having spaced holes therethrough adapted to receive securing spikes, the heads of which are adapted to contact said ledge, a second member extending along the opposite side of the rails hav mg a portion contacting with the top of the rail flanges and the underside of the rail heads and extending along the side of the rail flanges into proximity to said plate portion and also having an intermediate longitudinally extending ledge, said portion having openings in its outer edge adapted to receive securing-spikes the heads of which are adapted to contact with said ledge and said plate portion having apertures therethrough disposed in alignment with said openings through which said spikes also pass.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature securing in presence of two witnesses. 7

JOHN A. TWEIT. Witnesses I i W. E. Bois, E. A. BEMOU. 

